Official Stubbornness is killing Venezuelan Patients

I wish Delcy Eloína spent one day, just one day, doing what I do, looking into the eyes of parents with sick children wandering the overcrowded ER, not knowing what to do after we tell them we don’t have the drugs their kids need.

The picture is always the same: If your brother was shot in a protest or a robbery, if your wife is going into labor, if your little kid has asthma, you’ll trek from a pharmacy to another for hours, sometimes at night, looking for syringes or antibiotics.

Nicolás Maduro’s government refuses to acknowledge the humanitarian crisis. Why? It’s a question that keeps us medical professionals awake at night. The guy sees the whole crisis as an excuse for military intervention. According to Ryan Dube:

“Many people have said that in Venezuela there is a humanitarian crisis (…) That’s the biggest lie of all lies,” said Delcy Rodríguez, then the country’s foreign minister, at a June meeting of the Organization of American States. “It’s one more excuse to intervene in Venezuela.”

The Venezuelan health network failed its people and it refuses to see it:

“Mr. Maduro has been willing to seek help from U.N. agencies to buy medicine at lower prices, but his administration has rejected offers for outright aid. The government believes that its imperialist foes are exaggerating the gravity of the situation to provide a pretext for meddling or even invasion. In May, Venezuela banned imports of first aid that could have been used by antigovernment protesters.”

Chavismo doesn’t actually care about Venezuelans dying in the healthcare collapse. Even though Maduro asked the UN for help back in March, nothing happened and the ban on first aid material made it difficult for NGOs to bring very needed supplies into the country.

Even if the meds get to Caracas, getting them out of the city is a monumental task, after the Government banned internal shipment through courier agencies. Some organizations regularly send help to Venezuela, but they do it in small scale, since the chance their items get seized by customs is very real. Once the supplies are here, those interested may contact national coordinators and personally retrieve them.

The tiny-scale donations are far from what we need (even a full scale program wouldn’t do much), but they’re a ray of hope for people in need, and that’s much more than anything the Government has done for them.

“This is gold,” said Katherine Martínez, leader of volunteers at the J.M. de los Ríos Hospital. The staff has gone for weeks without baby formula over there. “The donations are fundamental because shortages are huge.”

Few things show how hard Chavista model failed in Venezuela like the devastated health system does. As Dube suggests, this is one of the main reasons why it refuses help.

Accepting aid would also be seen as an acknowledgment that Venezuela’s socialist policies have failed, a hard pill to swallow for a government used to sending relief to other Latin American countries hit by natural disasters.

They’re too proud to admit they’re the true natural disaster.

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17 COMMENTS

Few things show how hard Chavista model failed in Venezuela like the devastated health system does. As Dube suggests, this is one of the main reasons why it refuses help… They’re too proud to admit they’re the true natural disaster.
Which is why they fired the Health Minister for allowing the publishing of health statistics- such as Infant Mortality rising 30% in 2016- that showed the deterioration of health care in Venezuela.

As I understand it, the USA has provided humanitarian assistance to non governmental groups in Cuba for some time, including to political prisoners and their families, however, that funding will be eliminated under the current administration’s massive cuts to the State Department.

According to Haussman, Venezuelan GDP has fallen 35% or so in the last 3 years ( more than in U.S.1928-1933 Great Depression, but GDP/Capita has fallen several points more, due to a lessened population (due to large emigration).

If Delcy Mamahuevoloína took a second to see what you see she’d say: “We’ll die without antibiotics, but we’ll stand strong and defend our revolution!”. Ten minutes later she’ll be talking about her friend, who had plastic surgery in the best clinic somewhere in the US.

No offense to the author, but aren’t we past the point where plowing the same ground over and over again is futile? We all know what a complete cluster fuck the country has become. Isn’t it time every one of us takes another step?

I went to our local cyber, the only one in town, prepared this morning to send a long letter to Sen Marco Rubio pleading with him to plead with Pres Trump to apply sanctions serious enough to squeeze the living shit out of this band of criminals and force them from power. But as with everything else in the country, internet service was down, had been so since last Friday, and no word on when it’d be back up.

It’s not about pride. Not even about ignorance, neglect or ineptitude. Most of the top Chavista criminals know there’s a huge food and medicine crisis. Most Chavistas also know it’s not due to any ‘economic war’, or “imperialism’ or evil schemes from the “ultra-derecha” .

Obviously they LIE, descaradamente, everyday, for years and years, with just one purpose: stay in power and get very, very rich. That’s all. They are Criminals, psychopaths with no empathy for the people, liars, and, above all, Mega-Thieves. Once you’ve understood that, plus the fact that they fear prosecution and loss of their stolen properties/bank accounts, you’ve understood Kleptozuela.

When puzzled or in doubt about any Chavista conundrum, contradiction or surreal scenario – (as the author of this article seems to be) – look no further than 2 fundamental reasons: galactic corruption and atrocious education, abysmal moral values or lack thereof. That’s it, every time.

Most Chavistas in power are just criminals, malandros, bandits, thieves, some are even assassins. They have no soul, no conscience, no religion, no true “socialista” or “chavista” ideology. That all BS. They’re simply under-educated, twisted LADRONES, criminals, psychopaths; sick, ignorant mega-thieves, that’s all.

(BTW, It’s about time we start calling things by their accurate names: It’s not “Official” there’s nothing ‘official’ about that genocidal narco-regime. It’s simply an unofficial tropical Kleptocracy. It’s not a “gobierno” either. There’s a perfectly valid, more accurate word for that disguised criminal dictatorship: Desgobierno. (Misrule)

This regime’s behaviour is pathological even by dictatorial regime standards. Most such regimes would get international aid, steal nearly all of it, then resell it and earn a lot of money. That’s where their economic interest should lie. Yea, that’s slightly embarrassing, but there are any number of excuses to justify receiving the aid without confessing failure (insert BS about “economic war”). Ergo, this is a case where they are acting _against_ their own economic interest.

Why? Because the crisis is deliberate by now. The regime knows it can’t end the crisis in a normal way and stay in power. Starving the people reduce opposition directly (too tired to protest) and indirectly (emigration), while improving the regime’s financial situation. They’ve decided to use the Syrian, or even more accurately, North Korean route to stay in power, but are actually even more radical – both Assad and the Kims were willing to ask for and receive aid.